Taiwanese quango sues LG for patent infringements

Life's not good

LG is being sued by a Taiwanese research quango, which has accused it of infringing on 22 patents on mobile phones, air conditioners, Blu-ray disc players and LCD televisions.

According to the Taipei Times, Hsinchu-based Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI), which is supervised by the nation’s Ministry of Economic Affairs, filed four lawsuits against LG, which it submitted to a federal court in Texas on 26 November.

The quango, which was founded in 1973 "to strengthen the technological competitiveness of Taiwan" through research and development, claims LG Electronics infringed on patents with 15 of these related to LCD televisions and a further two for mobile phones.

ITRI says that unless LG Electronics is barred from using the inventions, it "will suffer additional irreparable harm for which there is no adequate remedy at law and impairment of the value of its patent rights."

LG may be in for a tough ride. ITRI is backed by a huge pool of 14,000 patents, meaning it's well equipped to engage in legal strife. Last year, it obtained 397 U.S. patent rights, the highest among research institutions worldwide, according to the statistics of IFI Patent Intelligence.

The news comes as LG is facing financial difficulties, just days after it decided it must scrap its business wing to save the pennies.

The case is also similar to the IP litigation between Acer and HP three years ago, when the former successfully used the support of the ITRI to force the latter in accepting a settlement.

The ITRI isn't the only one after LG's blood. On 24 November, LG, along with Nokia and STMicroelectronics were sued by the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) for allegedly infringing its patents.

Related topics

You know, the timing of the lawsuit filing is auspicious, er, suspicious, see: ''Hsinchu-based Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI, 工研院), which is supervised by the nation’s Ministry of Economic Affairs, filed four lawsuits against LG Electronics. The complaints were submitted on ****Nov. 26 in federal court in Tyler, Texas. ''

As for quango, what a great word!

QuangoFor the marketing and design company, see QUANGO Inc.For the record label, see Quango Music Group.The acronyms Qango and Quango, variously spelt out as QUAsi Non-Governmental Organisation, QUasi-Autonomous Non-Governmental Organisation, and QUasi-Autonomous National Government Organisation, have been used, notably in the United Kingdom, but also in Australia, Ireland and other countries, to describe a range of organisations to which governments have devolved power. Confusion over the meaning of the acronym has been reflected in confusion over the use of the term, and may have contributed to its decline in use. The term Quango carries with it an implication of poor management and lack of accountability.

History of the termThe term originated as a humorous shortening of Quasi-NGO, that is, an ostensibly non-governmental organisation which performs governmental functions, often with government funding or other support.[1] There are many such organisations. In Australia and other countries, the Red Cross provides blood bank services, with government support and backing of various kinds. Examples in the United Kingdom include bodies engaged in self-regulation of various sectors, such as the Press Council and the Law Society. An essential feature of a Quango, in the original definition, was that it should not be formally part of the public sector.

However, the appeal of the term was such that it was extended to a wide range of governmental organisations, such as executive agencies (from 1988) providing health, education and other services. Particularly in the United Kingdom, this extension took place in a polemical context, being associated with claims that the proliferation of such authorities was undesirable and should be reversed [1]. In the course of this process, attempts were made to derive the acronym from longer terms which did not carry the presumption that the organisation in question was non-governmental. The most popular was Quasi-Autonomous National Government Organisation, which, however, carries with it the false presumption that state and local governments cannot make use of Quangos, so leading to the parallel acronym, Qualgo.[2]

Since most of such bodies are in fact part of the government in terms of funding, appointment and function, the acronym does not work as a description - these are generally not non-governmental organisations with less autonomy than others. As a result, it has largely been abandoned in UK official usage. The less controversial term non-departmental public body (NDPB) is now used to describe many of the organisations with devolved governmental roles, in an attempt to avoid the pejorative associations of the term Quango.

The UK government's definition of a non-departmental public body or quango in 1997 was:

"A body which has a role in the processes of national government, but is not a government department or part of one, and which accordingly operates to a greater or lesser extent at arm's length from Ministers." [2]